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Injuries force several Senior Bowl roster changes

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Mississippi State offensive tackle Blaine Clausell (75), who joined the Senior Bowls' South roster on Thursday, blocks UCLA defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa (54) during practice. The collegiate all-star game is Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile. (Mike Kittrell/mkittrell@al.com)
(Mike Kittrell)

Two more Senior Bowlers will miss Saturday's game due to injuries, as game officials announced Thursday that Michigan State running back Jeremy Langford and Ohio State cornerback Doran Grant will not be able to play.

Langford and Grant join a trio of players who were taken off the roster on Wednesday -- TCU's Tayo Fabuluje, Kansas cornerback JaCorey Shepherd, and UNLV receiver Devante Davis.

Senior Bowl officials announced several roster replacements on Wednesday night, including the addition of Mississippi State offensive tackle and Mobile native Blaine Clausell and Central Florida linebacker Terrance Plummer to the South squad and Ohio State linebacker Curtis Grant to the North roster.

With only one full day of practice on Thursday before Friday's walk-through and Saturday's game, the newcomers had little time to get comfortable.

"He's playing catch-up all day," Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt, whose staff is leading the North squad, said of Curtis Grant. "He didn't even have the right helmet out there when we first started, but he threw himself into it. We got over to the meetings this afternoon and he got his book for the first time. He was actually practicing without any idea of what was going on, so it was a little bit of a team thing. Everybody was helping him out, getting him lined up.

"But a lot of enthusiasm. He came over and said: 'Put me on special teams.' I said, 'You are, you are. Let's get through this practice first.'"

Several other players are dealing with minor injuries but are expected to try to play on Saturday, including Auburn defensive tackle Gabe Wright, Ole Miss cornerback Senquez Golson, Miami linebacker Denzel Perryman, Tennessee State offensive guard Robert Myers and Harvard linebacker Zack Hodges.

(UPDATE, 11:45 p.m.: Missouri running back/kick returner Marcus Murphy has been added to the South roster.)